Linkin Park like asparagus!

Quelle: http://www.einslive.de/

Translated by Martin

Chester, you celebrated your 31st birthday recently. What have you done?
I gave some interviews but it wasn�t that bad. it's funny when people congratulates you which you have never seen before. In the evening I was in a comedy club with my band mates. We laughed the whole night!

Doesn't sound like rock'n'roll...
Yes that�s right. I�m the oldest member and the only one with kids at home. I have four sons (the youngest is 1 year old) and a lot of responsibility.

Linkin Park, the nice guys from the neighborhood?
Chester (a little bit angry): why not? Not everybody have to be a stereotype of rock'n'roll. We don�t have to fit this clich�. we are proud of our own style.

You sold over 40 million copies, you are the big income earner of nu metal, a movement (nu metal) which you don�t want to belong to?
I don�t know what nu metal is. I mean I know what people figure out with that genre. For us it was a good thing, to be part of a new growing genre (nu metal). But we never had the idea to sound like other nu metal bands because we had a lot of other sounds and not only rap/rock. I think we belong to hard rock and a little bit to pop. But nu metal? Never! This album is our chance to break out of this nu metal clich�. We deleted everything on our new album which could sounded like nu metal.

And now you curse on the new album, which you never had done before?
Tell us something about the acoustic rap song "bleed it out"! I love this track because it has all the linkin park elements but it sounds completely different from our older stuff. Mike is singing the verse and me is singing the chorus. The song has a great chorus and a good bridge. When you write down this song you'll think it would be an older song of us but when you hear it you'll be surprised. We are proud of this work.

You will be headliner of every big summer festival, rock am ring/rock im park. Are you nervous to present your new style?
No, we were headliners a few times before and every time it was spectacular. It�s a great honor for us to play in front of a big crowd who love to be on those festival. The last time when we were there (rock am ring 2004) we played just before the headliners "toten hosen". We watched their show and it was amazing how the fans loved their music, their sound and so on.

You haven't played live since two years. Isn't it scary to start a new tour which could last 3 years?
To be on stage is a lot of fun and we love to play live. But when we are on tour for about three months and travel around the world on planes, busses etc. it makes you a little bit tired. But it�s worth it. It's a chance to connect with our fans, to talk to them etc. When you shake hands with fans who say they love your music it makes us proud.

What can your fans expect of your upcoming tour?
We practiced a lot of new songs which we'll play live on our shows. It�s nice to have 3 albums were we can pick from to create our setlist. We also now have the possibility to change our setlist more often. When Hybrid Theory was released we didn�t have this opportunity because we had at least 32 minutes of music to play live, that was really tough. we had to stretch these 32 minutes to 60 minutes and were criticized for that.

You also have a solo project, called Dead By Sunrise. Do you have enough free time beside Linkin Park?
No, but I like to do other stuff beside Linkin Park. If everything goes well, the album will be finished at the end of this year. It's electronic rock with pop elements. Like Depeche Mode combined with grunge and classic rock. It has an electronic flair and it is diversified. The people will recognize me but it will not sound like Linkin Park. So far I've received positive feedback.

How is it that you opened so many tattoo studios? Are you your own customer?
Chester (laughs): Yeah that�s right. My body is full of tattoos (80%). I have 4 studios and the fifth is coming soon, in Las Vegas.

You sound a little bit like P. Diddy. Chester Bennington the rock and fashion man?
I would say that I�m the fashion advisor of the band, it's a lot of fun to help the others with the fashion, for example I also helped to make the album cover. I wanted to look more different on this cover, so people can recognize our new style. In the past we hired someone to dress us. We got trousers and shirts (from companies) in which we played our live shows or went to photo shootings. We were the advertising models for companies. We didn't really thought about it, we only wanted to have clean clothes. Isn't that embarrassing? I remember that once we all wore the same shirts, trousers and shoes. It looked really terrible.

But it won't happen again?
I hope not!! In the past it was indifferent of us because we travelled so much. Now we pay more attention. That�s also a part of our new style and direction.